Name: The Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 80 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas; 2 teaspoons lemon juice; 3 cups flour; 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 3/4 cup unsalted butter; 2 1/8 cups sugar; 3 eggs; 2 teaspoons vanilla; 1 1/2 cups buttermilk; 1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional); 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, chilled; 11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp; 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar; 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

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The Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Kelly Senyei
21 July 21, 2014
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Two-Layer moist banana cake with tangy cream cheese frosting topped with pecans on cake stand

I always hesitate naming a recipe “The Best.” It makes you wonder where you go next once “The Best” is achieved. And the answer is nowhere. You go nowhere. You bake this cake. You sit down. You eat this cake. And then you never search for another banana cake recipe for the rest of your life. Deal?

This banana cake is one of those recipes I grew up on, never really knowing where the mysterious notecard splattered with cake batter and vanilla extract—the pre-online indication of a well-loved recipe—came from. But thanks to the interwebs, it’s been digitized, and in return, it’s floated from recipe site to food blog, magazine to cookbook. And now it’s landed here. I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

The Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

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The Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Prep: 20 minutes

Cook: 1 hour

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For the frosting:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, chilled
11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Make the cake:

Preheat the oven to 275°F. Grease and flour two round 9-by-2-inch cake pans. (See Kelly's Notes.)

In a small bowl, combine the mashed bananas with the lemon juice and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one at a time.

Add the vanilla and then beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

Fold in the mashed banana mixture and divide the batter evenly between the prepared cake pans. (See Kelly's Notes.)

Bake the cakes for 55 to 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove the cakes from the oven, place them on baking sheets and immediately transfer them to the freezer for 45 minutes to cool while you make the frosting.

Make the frosting:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into the bowl, then add the vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Remove the cakes from the freezer and transfer one cake onto your serving platter. Top the cake with half of the cream cheese frosting. Place the second cake on top and frost it with the remaining cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle the top of the cake with the chopped walnuts (optional). Slice and serve.

Kelly's Notes:

The secret tip that makes this recipe the best-ever banana cake is that the cake bakes up low and slow at 275°F for about 1 hour. It will be less moist if you try to rush the cooking time and avoid placing it in the freezer straight from the oven. The blast of cool air helps seal in the moisture.

It's important to note that the round cake pans are 9 inches wide by 2 inches tall. The amount of batter in this recipe will not fit in round cake pans that are only 1 inch tall.

This recipe will also work with a 9-by-13-by-2-inch cake pan. The baking time will vary, so it's important to test the cake with a toothpick after it's baked for about 50 minutes.